The Flash Recap With Spoilers: Rupture

The episode opens as police pursue a suspect in a high-speed traffic chase. Cisco calls to Barry to tell him shere it’s going. Barry, wearing a motion-capture suit and running on the cosmic treadmill, is being used as an optical illusion to distract the bad guys, making them think The Flash is still patroling the streets. It works, the they stop and surrender to the cops.

During the team’s celebration, Harry reiterates that he wants to blow a new particle accelerator. The team isn’t behind it, but he’s confident he can give Barry his powers back.

Barry drives out to see Henry, who is living in a cabin in the woods. He’s surprised and disappointed to learn that Barry is powerless, that Jay is Zoom, and he mentions that Garrick is his (Henry’s) mother’s maiden name. Barry tells him about Wells’s idea, and Henry is worried about what he would be risking to become The Flash again.

Cisco is trying to figure out a problem on the comptuers when he and Wells get into an argument; he vibes on his brother Dante, and leaves.

At the police department, Joe and Wally are talking about tonight’s plans and Wally’s career plans when Zoom arrives to warn everyone that he’s in charge of the city now and will kill anyone who disobeys him.

Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Wells starts to panic because he doesn’t see any other way to defeat Zoom besides getting Barry’s powers back.

At the police department, Caitlin starts pressuring Zoom about his plan, and he says that he knows they aren’t all that different, and all she has to do is unlock her dark side. He runs of, leaving her handcuffed to a desk.

At a bar, Cisco meets Dante, who wants to know what’s wrong. The two argue.

In Wells’s Time Vault, Joe stows Wally and Jesse away where Zoom can’t find them.

In his office, Harry is working on equations when Joe comes in. Henry joins them, too, and starts arguing with Joe about the right thing to do. He doesn’t trust Wells, and is worried that even with his powers, Barry can’t beat Zoom.

Barry enters and tells them that what they’re arguing about is ultimately his decision, then leaves.

At the bar, Cisco sees a report about Zoom taking over CCPD on the TV, and runs to leave. In the street outside, while he argues with Dante, the pair are attacked by a metahuman wielding a scythe-like energy weapon, who calls Cisco “Vibe.”

In short order, the villain reveals himself to be Rupture, the Earth-2 version of Dante, who’s angry about the death of Reverb.

Back at S.T.A.R., Harry explains who Rupture is, and that his powers come from the scythe. Cisco sets about trying to figure out how to separate him from it.

Barry goes off to think about the particle accelerator explosion. Iris follows him, and he asks her for advice. She says she doesn’t know if she could go through what she went through last time if he were to get hurt. He asks if she’s okay and she admits to him that she has feelings for him. She leaves, leaving Barry alone to think.

At CCPD, Caitlin manages to open a drawer, where there’s a cell phone inside. Before she can use it, though, Zoom arrives, talking to Rupture. He tells Rupture to kill the police who have gathered at Jitters. When Caitlin objects, he quotes her back at herself, saying that she once said he was nothing but a monster.

Caitlin sends a text to S.T.A.R., telling them that Rupture is going to attack the cops tonight. Barry says that they’ll have to figure out how to save the day without The Flash, because he won’t do it until they’re sure that the explosion can be contained and the process will work.

At Jitters, Joe preps the other police for the attack. Barry is there to help out, too, doubting his decision.

At S.T.A.R., Dante has found a note that Cisco had left behind for his family in case he didn’t survive the trip to Earth-2. Cisco ends up having to admit that he’s got powers. He has to leave to help with the Rupture situation before they can finish their conversation.

At Jitters, Cisco and Barry are set up to project The Flash to distract Rupture, who breaks into the cafe to find it seemingly empty. “The Flash” arrives and Rupture trashes the coffee shop trying to blast him, but can’t keep up. When Barry pretends to be back on his heels, Rupturetries to kill him and ends up being shot from behind with tazers. He drops his scythe and is taken into custody, but Zoom quickly figures out that Caitlin betrayed him and runs to kill the police himself.

Arriving at the scene, Zoom kills every cop there except for Joe and Singh, then kills Rupture for good measure and gets on a TV camera to announce that The Flash they’ve been seeing is a hologram, and that there’s no one left to stop him. He tells Singh to keep his cops off the street, and warns Barry that this is the last time Zoom’s love for Caitlin will spare him.

Back at his lab, Cisco gives his brother a hug, saying he wants them to be closer, after having seen “Dante” die right in front of him.

In the Time Vault, Wally wants to be helping. Jesse is a bit more pragmatic, but Wally challenges her to figure out what to do.

In the cortex, Wells says there are likely thousands more metahumans that we didn’t know about yet, and that Zoom will soon start recruiting them to his cause. Barry decides it’s time to get his powers back.

Harry wants to position their experiment on the roof so that when Cisco uses Weather Wizard’s wand to summon lightning, he will be their lightning rod.

As they prepare to hit Barry with the necessary variables, Iris tells him that whatever happens, it will never change the way she feels about him. Henry tells him that he doesn’t have to do this, but Barry says that being The Flash is the best version of him, and that if he doesn’t have his speed, he can’t be that person.

Strapped to a chair that will redirect all the dark matter and antimatter energy to Barry and protect the city, the team prepares to hit Barry with lightning. Meanwhile, Wally and Jesse are breaking out of the Time Vault. Barry starts to seize during the experiment, but when he’s hit by lightning, instead of being infused with the speed force, Barry is disintegrated. Becoming a cloud of energy, he hits Wally and Jesse as they enter the room.

Zoom arrives and gloats over Barry’s charred uniform, then darts away, leaving everyone in mourning.